Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-08-20
pAPsR NO. z.

In looking at this question ieI US
for the present take the item of coal.
Owing to the deforestization Of our
country (due in a great measure to a
protective tariff that keeps our ports
closed to the immense forests OF
Canada,) coal has now become a
necessity in every household. 1t is
a well-know fact to every one (who
knows anything) that we have in
this country the largest coal deposits
in the world. The whole central
ridge of our country is underlined
with it, and yet our Legislators pro-
tect this necessity rs cts. per ton
In conversation with a b. g. o. r.
II. official some years since he stated
that they had coal put in their bins
at 81 cts. per ton. Now only think
of protecting an article % cts. that
can be mined and sold at 81 cts.-
Only this summer salt evaporation
from central Ohio who owned coal
mine, stated to the writer, that he
put bis coal in his salt house at 80
cts. and yet to protect the American
laborer, we add rs cts. to the cost
of the article. What has been the
experience in this country i'll regard
to the condition Of ii Q coal min, rs ?
We have simply to refer to "The
Hooking Valley" strikes in 1884, to
answer the question. There, wages
were cut down so that the income
of a miner would not provide the
simplest necessaries of life I; and
when the poor half starved creatures
begged for enough wages to enable
them to buy their daily bread, they
we're put under the surveillance Of
the soldiery until the poor (?) mine
owners could send to Bohemia and
import pauper labor to do the work
at prices, at which American labor
could not subsist. Any one who
favors this item of protection need
only 90 among the IMMERSED how
they labor, how they live, and if he
has any humanity left, he viii ad
vocate measures that will protect the
laborer from the monopolist. The
condition of the miners to day is
very little better than it was in 's4
and yet we protect coal for the Ia
borer's protection.
A correspondent of the n. Y.
World recently wrote from the Penn
sylvania mines as follows:
Il supped last night in howell with a
man. whom we will call John Richardson
and his interesting family. There were
nine At the table-six children, ranging
from Pat the donkey-boy of 10, to Charlie
the babe that lay asleep in its mothers
lap-John and Mrs. Richardson, and my.
seif. a self.invited guest The bill of fare
as originally planned consisted of couple
az loayes of bread from the "pluck.me'
store. where John does his trading by
force and arms, compelled thereto If he
would get work in the mine where he is
emnloyed: some salt to eat upon 1t; bit
of salt pork for the father and the eldest
son: some buckle and red raspberries
mixed. picked by the little girls, small
libafion Of milk, John owning an interest
In 4 cow. and some tea, composed, as near
as could Judge, of one part cheap green
tea and four parts sweet fern or some
other herb gathered near by TO exc out a
warm decoction. To this menu added
4 large beefsteak from the round and a
couple of pounds of cheese together with
naner of sweet crackers for the little ones,
and il YOU could have seen the way these
unwonted Injuries were revesed in by the
whole Richardson group / arm sure you
would have felt the warm shivers run up
and down your backbone as they ran up
and down my own.
This is q true story, and q sad
one, working for wages that barely
keep soul and body together, and
then forced to buy his supplies from
the company's store at their own
prices and this is protection to the
American Laborer. Protectionists
claim that they want protection not
for capital, but for labor. a Wash
ington correspondent writing to his
paper writes:
They say they want the American work
inrmen protected from the competition OF
the spauper labor in Europe. And so
they build up q system under which the
miners Of Pennsy lvania SO take but one
sort Of protected labor work for the
pauper wages Of Europe while they pay